Why didn't I think of that?!?!

My friend Juanita just had a first birthday party for her son Tristan, and at the party they had a balloon guy making balloon animals for the kids. Why didn't I think of that?! He did some of the coolest things, and it was just awesome! I am totally having him for Mady's next birthday, and maybe even my own!!

Mady's monkey

Mommy's ducky

Fun on a crisp fall day...

What's good for the goose...

This saying is very prevelent in our house these days. Since Mady's first birthday, she has been eating "big girl" food, which is really just food that Frank and I eat. Knowing that she is going to be eating what we eat, when we eat and how we eat, i made an executive decision. We are going to eat better so we can set a good example for Madylinn. This wasn't exactly easy for us. Not that we eat that bad all the time, but we don't always eat as healthy as we should. Well, we've started to now. And i make sure that Mady does too, at every meal. She eats lots of fruit and veggies, and balanced meals every day. And the days when Frank and I decide we are going to eat UN-healthy, we bought Mady her own toddler dinners so she can still have a balanced meal. But for the most part, it's making us eat healthier too, which is a good thing overall. We all, also, sit down at the dinner table together and eat all our meals. It's really nice. You would think we were a family, lol.

Still searching, and searching, and searching...

That's right, i've looked practically everywhere, and i still can't find rain boots in a size 3 for Madylinn! It seems the smallest size they make is a size 5, and they call that the infant and say it is for pre-walkers. I don't know about you, but MY infant/toddler is NOT a size 5, and she has been walking for 3 months now. I can't even find snow boots in her size. What am i supposed to do when the snow comes around?

Madylinn's first birthday video...

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Shots...

We had Mady's 1 year appointment with the doctor yesterday. She is growing like a little weed, but not as fast as i thought she was. She is 19lbs 6oz and 29 1/4 inches tall. Frank thinks she needs to be eating more, and of course he won't listen to me when i talk, so i had the doctor set him straight. He told him that she will eat when and what she wants, and it probably won't be a lot since she is a little girl and has a little tummy. He still doesn't believe me that she is fine. I guess he wants her to be a blimp by her 2nd birthday. Mady also had her first dose of the seasonal flu shot yesterday. She has to go back in 4 weeks for the other dose. It makes me feel better to know she has it, since so many people are sick right around now. I'm still not totally sure about the H1N1 shot thought. I know our ped says it's recommended, but it's so new and it hasn't been totally tested or anything yet. I just don't want to expose her to something i don't know that much about. I wish i knew the right thing to do. Hopefully i'll figure it out before they have the shots available.

Husband for sale...

That's right, you read that correctly...

Husband for sale - Newly reduced price!
32 years old, high mileage, needs oil changed frequently, built in GPS (but it doesn't always work and it won't stop to ask for directions), gear shift tends to stick (isn't sure if it wants to Park, Reverse or Drive...usually just Parks on the couch), valves need tightening (they tend to leak from the nose and mouth), no need for refilling the gas tank (he comes fully loaded)

No refunds, all sales final

What a day...

Well, today was the big day. Mady's first birthday. It was a very happy and very sad day for me. Where does the time go so fast, and is there a person i can contact to get it back?

Today started out as hectic as it ended. Once i woke up, it was right to work for me. Finishing baking and decorating the cake, making the food, getting everything packed in to the car, and showering and getting ready to go for the day. Once Mady got up, it was break time, whether we had time or not. We sang to her and watched her open her presents from us. It was awesome. And yes, i did cry.

After Mady had her breakfast, we were on the go again. Once we got the car all packed up, we made our way over to the hall to start setting up. In my typical fashion, i was just finishing up when people starting arriving. I did, however, manage to make the cake meet my standards, which is more than i thought i would be able to do. It didn't quite look like the picture, but i was happy with it none the less. And my centerpieces didn't work like i thought they would either, but i re-configured it and made it work in a different way.

After everyone ate, we sang happy birthday to my little princess. She actually got in to her cake too, which i was happy about. I know what you're thinking, how could you be happy about that, but i was. She made up her mind that it was her cake and she was going to enjoy it and eat it, and she did...and boy what a mess she made!

Then we started on presents. Everyone was so generous, it was wonderful. Thank you to everyone, not only for the presents, but for being there to help us celebrate our little girl's first birthday. Having everyone we love and care about there made it an even more special day for us. Mady loved having all the kids there to play with, and she enjoyed having people she knew around her on her special day.

Once we got home, we had to take everything out of the boxes so Princess Mady could play with it (of course...she wasn't happy until she tried everything out). Then she got her cup of milk and sat on her new chair and drank it. It was too precious.

I will post pictures soon, when i get a chance to get them all off the camera. And i will be posting a 1 year video too, whenever i can get a chance to make it and not cry a river in the process.

Thank you again to everyone. We love you all very much.

The final countdown...

I am in the home stretch now, i can see the finish line. That's what i was thinking one year ago today, when i went in to the hospital to be induced. Little did i know what i was in store for.

This morning, i started baking Madylinn's birthday cake. I'm trying to do everything "just right", so i'm making her a princess castle birthday cake. It's a lot harder than i thought, and it's going to take much longer than i thought as well. I'm about half way done now, and i can honestly say that it doesn't really look like the picture. Oh well, at least it will taste yummy, lol.

I also spent last night and this morning working on gift bags for the kids and centerpieces and decorations for the party. Frank told me i was being over-ambitious. I figure, even though she isn't going to remember this party, she WILL be able to look at the pictures one day and see how much work i put in to it. Plus, she's only going to be 1 one time, so i might as well do it right. What if i never have another girl, just all boys? I'll never get the opportunity to plan a princess party and spoil my little girl. So here i am, trying to do it all now. Hahaha, i hope it all turns out ok looking. Guess we'll see tomorrow afternoon!

What did we even buy?

Since i had a busy week last week, being at the hospital everyday with my dad, i didn't really have time to shop for birthday presents for Madylinn. I know, i know, i feel like a bad parent! So i decided to go shopping this morning to get her some things. I had no idea what to get for a 1 year old, this is the first one i can remember buying for in quite some time, so i had Frank and Mady come with me. We went to Harrisburg to Babies "R" Us and Toys "R" Us to see what we could find. We started at Toys "R" Us, and we found lots of cute things. The problem was, they were either not advanced enough for her, or way too advanced for her. And i know it's bragging, or maybe just being a mom in general, but i definately think Mady is very advanced for her age. She had a tea party with my dad the other day, and actually understood the concept of pouring the tea and drinking it from the cup! Anyway, back on topic. My dad also gave us money to buy her some things, since he is still in the recovery phase and doesn't want to go too far from home. So we bought a ton of stuff from Toys "R" Us, and i actually think she is going to like it all! Then we proceeded to Babies "R" Us. The main reason we were going there was to buy her her new "big girl" carseat. I've had it picked out forever now, i've just been waiting for the coupon in the mail so i could get the 15% off, lol. The one i wanted rear-faces to 40lbs, which is 5lbs more than the other seats on the market. That 5lbs means a lot to me...it could mean saving her life, god forbid. It forward-faces the same as the other seats. It's really cute too, not that i was picking it specifically for it's cuteness, but that fact doesn't hurt. When we got in the store, we took the trial version of the seat out to the car to try it out to make sure we liked it. It fit really nicely in the backseat of the Yukon, so that was the final piece of the puzzle, and we got it. Now, we just need to install it. I think i am going to make Frank take it to the state police to make sure it's installed correctly.
Now, i just have to finish buying all the decorations and i'm ready to go for Mady's first birthday! It's a lot of work, planning a first birthday party...or any party for that matter. And the worst part about it all is, she isn't going to remember ANYTHING about it!!

Thank you...

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for your concern and prayers for my dad. He was discharged yesterday, and he's happy to be out of "prison", lol. Now it is my mission to try and get him to take it easy and eat better. I hope it won't be too difficult, as he is determined to do what he has to do to be around for when Mady's grows up.
I always thought i had my priorities pretty straight, and that i knew what i was doing. But it takes something serious to happen to make you stop and realize you need to slow down and enjoy things more, because it could all be taken away from you in the blink of an eye, without warning.

A rough day...

Yesterday, my father went to the hospital with a mild heart attack. It was especially weird because he didn't have any heart pain, just a pain in his upper stomach area, which he originally thought was indigestion. He said he woke up with pressure, like an air bubble or something, and it lasted about 20min and went away. He didn't think anything of it so he got ready and went to work. Well, he was at work and the pain came back, so he went up to the nurse. She took his blood pressure and said it was kinda high, so she recommended that he go to the hospital and get it checked out. Well, he is very much like me, so he said no, that he would wait a while and see how he felt. Well, he felt better so he went back to work. Not so surprisingly, the pain came back, so he went back down to the nurse and she gave him 2 Nitro pills this time. She made him call me to take him to get checked. Well, in the 10min it took me to get dressed and get down there, they called the ambulance to be sure he was ok. They took him to Geisinger right away. Once there, they did about a million tests, and sure enough, it was a heart attack. They scheduled him for surgery to determine the blockage and take the necessary steps right away. While in there, they found that he had a major blockage, which means that it's good he got there when he did because if he would have waited another day, he might not have made it. They ended up putting a stint in his heart, which opened up the artery and let the blood flow freely. He is now resting in the cardiac intensive care unit to make sure his heart is strong enough to go home. We're hoping he will be in a regular room very soon though, so he can have more than 2 visitors at a time. Thank God for the nurse making him go to the hospital. He is very stubborn and would never listen to me, and i don't know what i would do without him in my life right now.